I never paid much attention to the ratings system... but, recently noticed that the majority of starred topics are topics like games etc. - unrelated to cooking/shared recipes. Wondering if we could give a little more attention re ratings to food-related, shared recipe topics. The stars don't really mean much to me, but I think if I saw a shared recipe someone has tried and acknowledged same, it would give more enthusiasm & input to a shared recipe. The Karma system is great, but how about letting your fellow-cooking members know about shared recipes. TIA

Mish, you have the ability to Rate any thread you wish. When you are posting a reply, just scroll down to the little window that says Choose a rating. There you can choose stars for any thread you visit. If I am not completely mistaken, an average gets taken of all those who rated the thread and that is how many stars it gets. So, the ratings are completely up to you.

__________________You're only given a little spark of madness. You mustn't lose it. Robin Williams Alix

Just to add on to what Alix said, if you do not feel that the rating system is necessary then you are free to not use it. It is certainly not a mandatory thing. For those that do what to use it though, it is there for them.